Anarchy United
by WhisperingVengence
Summary: Pandora moves to Lodi after the death of her mother. What happens when she meets a certain blonde VP of the Sons who makes her feel again, but most importantly face her past? Tara never came back to Charming. Set after Season 1. Jax/OC
1. Chapter 1

This is my first SoA story and I hope you all like. Tara never came back to Charming and this is set after Season 2. I don't own anyone from Sons of Anarchy and they are owned by FX and the writers. But man, but a wonder world it would be if I did. Also, I see Pandora as Evangeline Lilly, just in case you guys wanted a visual too. I'm pretty much addicted to Polyvore, so I'm going to make the outfits she wears and post them in profile, tagging which chapter and when. Enough talking! Onto the story!

The sun blared down against the black pavement of the long stretch of road, reflecting it's bright light to cause the air to wave above the cement top as Pandora made her way through Arizona, her destination California. California wasn't exactly her home state, but it was a home none the less. If she actually sat and thought about how long it had been since she stepped a foot in the beautiful state, she wasn't sure if she would be ashamed of herself or sad. The Lynch's were originally from Louisiana; those good, southern people who always smiled and had Sunday dinner for the entire neighborhood, or at least those who decided to show up. The family wasn't a bad one, quite the opposite actually. Though, there were some in the area who didn't exactly agree with the things that they did and the lives they each decided to lead, but it wasn't their business really. Marcus and Birdie Lynch owned their own restaurant which made quite the name for itself in the southern state. Pandora went to school like everyone had to and was actually quite popular even though her father was president of the local motorcycle club. That was really what made most people look down on the family and call them white trash. The names never bothered the family or those that were apart of the club; they were opinons and everyone knew opinons were like assholes: Everyone had one and they were mostly dirty.

Pandora never let it stop her. The club was like a second family to her and even though there seemed to be more women around who flaunted themselves like prized cattle, she still hung around. No one ever saw her like a piece of meat, which she was actually glad for. Of course, there were some who decided that she was and tried to get with her. Those that were brave enough to try quickly found that it wouldn't work. She wasn't the piece of meat that most of the women prided themselves on and she wanted to be seen as more than that. Soon those in the club did start to see Pandora as more than just an attractive woman, which made her mother proud. The older woman understood what it was like to be looked at that way and how good it felt to prove those assholes wrong in their assumptions. After graduating high school, the family and those in the club who wanted to follow picked up their belongings and moved to Lodi, California, looking to become brothers with other motorcycle clubs in the area.

The Lynch's daughter didn't stay long and moved back to Louisiana, making her way to New Orleans to go to college. While there, she made friends with the owner of a very popular local nightclub and started working there for extra cash. It wasn't exactly her ideal job, but it paid the rent. Pandora was one of his dancers. There were many times where the woman had to correct people in their assuming that it was a sort of strip club deal. It was a prestigious club that many enjoyed. It was like a big family where everyone watched out for each other. Those in the club that were dancers made pretty good money, which allowed for the woman to live a comfortable lifestyle for years. It wasn't until the death of her mother that she even decided to go back to Cali. It was sudden, a heart attack that no one ever saw coming. But that's how it was, those types of things. Her father had the club, but at that moment he needed more than that; he needed Pandora. It hadn't fully hit her yet that Birdie was gone. The last time that she had seen her mother and the guys was when they had to make a special trip down to La to take care of some business that their daughter had wound up in. For a moment Pandora was pulled from her thoughts, bringing a hand to rub the back of her neck to try and relieve the tense muscles from hours of driving. Dainty fingers came into contact with rough scars and she sighed, shaking her head faintly. Reminders of how messed up she allowed for her life to get.

As if the simple thought of how her life had turned out and how she was trying to forget things and turn it around, her car began to smoke under the hood and the woman quickly pulled over to the side and turned it off, muttering a string of curse words under her breath as the brunette stepped out of the car and tore her jacket off, throwing it in the drivers seat.

"Bullshit, as if I need this." Glancing around there didn't appear to be anymore cars for miles and she angrily kicked her tire before popping open the hood. The only thing that Pandora assumed it would be was the water level was low. Her car was her life and she had been keeping up with it all. But as she leaned her hip against the side of the car, she couldn't remember when the last time was she put water in the tank. She reached into the pocket of her vest and fished out her cigarettes and lighter, plucking one from the flask like holder and then lit it, allowing for the nicotine to calm her nerves. Her father had taught her well, telling her to always keep things like water and oil in the trunk so that if things like this happened, the woman was prepared. When she got to the back of the car and popped the trunk, she dug around only to find the water canteen empty and slammed the trunk. Pandora was going to have to call her dad.

Sighing she pulled out her phone, listening to the ringing on the other end. "Hey, you here already?" Pandora heard her dad's voice ring out from the speaker and she took a quick puff of her cigarette, "Not exactly Pop. I'm havin' a little bit of car trouble. I think I ran out of water." Marcus sighed, "I told you to al-" Pandora cut him off before he could finish, "Always keep water and oil in your trunk. Yeah, I know. I've been driving for hours with no breaks. Cut me a little slack here." She pinched her brow in frustration, taking another drag of her cigarette, only to blow out rings. He sighed quietly, "Alright. I'll get a tow company out there. Where are you at?" Shielding her eyes she looked around, trying to see if she could spot a sign, "No clue. I'll look on my GPS and text you, let you know." Taking the final drag of her cigarette she flicked the butt carelessly off to the side, "Alright, I'll be at the shop waiting for you." The two paused in their conversation, the only sound that was heard was their breathing. She nodded slightly, even though he couldn't see it. Perhaps it was just out of habit. "I'll see you then, Dad. Love you." Pandora spoke quietly, making her way back to the driver seat to slip in. "I love you too, baby." And with that the two hung up the phone. Her head rested against her steering wheel for a moment, taking a deep breath in and letting it out slowly.

Most of her things were already in Lodi, her father making the drip down to drive the Uhal with some of the boys from the club. The sound of her notification tone knocked her from her thoughts and she looked down, seeing it was her dad. He was always the worrying type, even before her mothers passing. Checking her GPS, she texted back her location and waited. She was luckily in California by the time the car decided to act up, which was a good thing. It just meant that the towers wouldn't be too long. At least, she hoped they wouldn't.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Apparently my edits didn't appear in the first chapter. x_x My apologies for that. I have no idea why they didn't. Maybe I did something wrong... that's always a possibility and one I never really ever rule out. Like I said in the description: It's set after Season 1. Also, Donna never died. Anyways, second chapter is up. I hope you all enjoy. Once more I don't own anyone from SoA, only all my original characters that my brain came up with.**

It seemed like time was going slowly as Pandora sat in her car, resting her forehead against her steering wheel. Exhaustion was starting to set in and she let out a quiet yawn, checking the time on her phone for the eighth time in thirty minutes. Part of her was tempted to call her dad back, see where the tow truck was and if they on their way. It would only worry him though, thinking that something was wrong or that she was in some kind of danger. Even though she was twenty-seven her father was still a big papa bear who would always do what he had to in order to make sure his family was safe. It was endearing in a way, but even on those times it seemed to be slightly overbearing and it made the woman want to rip her hair out.

Things had gotten worse two years ago, when he had to ride down to Louisiana to take care of a foolish guy who didn't seem to care that Marcus could make him disappear with the snap of his fingers. Pandora didn't exactly go around flaunting that information; she knew better, far better and even when big papa bear offered the advice that she should move to California after it all happened, she quickly dismissed the idea. Now she was coming back for different reasons. They weren't exactly ones that were centered around her own terms, but important none the less. Her dad needed her now more than ever and no matter how over protective he was of her, there was no way she would stay in La when he needed her most, even if he didn't want to admit it.

The sound of a vehicle coming to a halt beside her forced her to lift her head from the metal steering wheel and look out of the passenger window to see the white tow truck, reading _Teller-Morrow _on the side. Stepping out of the car, she fixed her gray vest, running a hand through her hair as a tall man wearing a black beanie and sporting one hell of a beard stepped out of the driver side and walked around the front of the truck.

He took a look at her car and let out a low whistle, "Nice car. Eleanor. Gotta love those classic cars."

Pandora chuckled and gave a curt nod of her head, crossing her arms over her chest, "I do indeed. But right now she's being stubborn and throwing a fit." A guy with curly blonde hair stepped out of the passenger side and ran his hand over the top of her car.

"What's the problem?" Asked the one in the beanie, causing her to sigh.

"Honestly, the only thing that I could think would be it's running hot. I've been drivin' for awhile and ran outta water apparently and started smoking." She paused, moving around to lower the hood, "I thought I had an extra bottle back there, but I guess I was wrong."

Rubbing her hands on the side of her jeans she reached in through her window and grabbed her jacket and purse, "I appreciate you guys coming out here, I don't know how far ya'll had to come."

The blonde one glanced at her, giving Pandora a kind smile, "Not a problem. It's not every day you get to see a awesome car like this. Besides," He paused, giving a small shrug of his shoulder, "we're not too far from the shop."

Smiling back she gave a small nod, watching as they started to hook her car up to the truck. For a minute her heart stopped, afraid that something bad was going to happen to her car. She spent years and years getting it restored, it being a hand-me-down from her mother, Birdie. Thankfully, she was able to breath better once it was all over with. The car was her life, one of the only things that she had left of her mothers. Now that she was gone, it was her only lifeline to her in a way and if anything ever happened to it, she wasn't sure what she'd do.

The one in the beanie hopped back in the truck, leaving her and the blonde guy out who opened his side of the door for her, "Hop on in. Or you can have outside, I don't mind." He rubbed the back of his neck, smiling.

The driver glanced at the two and shook his head, "Give her the outside, Kip."

Giving the two of them a quick glance she watched as the blonde one -Kip- hopped in and held out a hand for her. Pandora took it after a moment and got in the truck, shutting the door and leaned her elbow against the open window, "Thanks."

"You say thanks a lot, don't you?"

Her brows furrowed together as she glanced at the driver. Had she said thanks a lot? If she did, she didn't really notice it. They were being nice and was going to tow her car. Their job or not, she was still thankful.

"I could just be a bitch and not say thanks for coming to get my car. You've helped me, that's kinda what you do when someone helps you out. Or are manners different in California?" She questioned, pulling out her cigarettes from the vest pocket to light one.

The driver glanced at her and Kip chuckled, which he covered quickly with a cough. "You don't mind that I smoke in here, right?" The empty cigarette packs on the dash was a clear sign that they most likely didn't mind, but it never hurt to ask.

"Nah, go ahead." Giving a curt nod she exhaled the smoke out the window, turning her hazel eyes to the scenes outside of the window as they passed by.

The scenery was different than in the southern state, especially the temperature. It was a nice change, leaving some place that was extremely humid to one that didn't have that high of one. There were more trees around, what appeared to be more woods. That wasn't new. There were woods in Louisiana, but in the cities there weren't too many trees or nature areas.

After about ten minutes the driver spoke up, "You mentioned things being different in California. Are you not from here? I can tell by your accent it may not be your place of origin."

Pandora gave a shake of her head, "I'm from Louisiana. Marcus is my dad."

The two men went silent at the bit of information and after a couple of minutes of silence Kip spoke, "I'm sorry about your mom."

Her brows furrowed together in confusion. They knew about her mom? Pandora turned her head to look at the two, noticing the somber look on the drivers face, "You two knew about my moms death?"

"We knew Birdie. Your dads MC hangs out with ours." Spoke Kip gently.

So they were bikers. That explained the tattoos on the drivers neck and the cuts in the backseat she spotted. Her attention was turned back out of the window, nodding slightly.

"I'm Opie, by the way." Said the driver, running a hand over his beanie.

"Pandora." Smiling absently she turned her attention back out of the window, resting her chin against her palm. It didn't surprise her that they knew her mom, especially if they were bikers. Birdie was well known in the south for both her sweet nature and -when the time called for it- sharp tongue. Her parents were high school sweethearts who married at eighteen. It wasn't until she was twenty-one that the two decided to have a child and Pandora came along.

The truck passed a 'Welcome To Charming' sign and let out a thankful sigh. The sooner she could get home, the sooner she could lay her head down and try to forget about everything that happened that day. The funeral was in a couple of days and it was something that Pandora was dreading. There was part of her that didn't want to go. Saying goodbye to a person that passed was always hard, but when it was a parent who still had so much life to live and would miss out on so much, it seemed to make things worse. Death was bad either way and everyone came to terms that it was a natural part of life that everyone would have to go through in life. It wasn't something she had come to terms with yet. She was still too numb.

They pulled into the auto shop and the first thing that her eyes caught sight of were all the bikes. If Kip hadn't offered the information of them being in an MC, the bikes would have been a dead giveaway. Her mind went back to the times when she would come home from school, motorcycles parked in the front yard. Most of the guys she had known growing up joined the Howling Wolf eventually. Like any MC, they wore their cuts with pride and honor. Pandora also spotted her dad and smiled at him as they parked the truck, hopping down out of the truck quickly to make her way over to him, arms open ready for a hug. It was a good one, one that was warm and full of love and she heard Marcus sniffle quietly.

"I missed you, baby girl." Her dad spoke softly, giving her cheek a lingering kiss which caused her to smile.

Pulling back she rested her hands against his shoulders, giving them a small squeeze, "I missed you too, daddy." Tucking her hands under the shoulders of his cut she straightened it out. Marcus cleaned away a tear that had fallen from his eye and cleared his throat, looking to Opie and Kip.

"Thanks you two. I'll take it from here." Marcus gave a nod of appreciation to the two who gave curt nods back. Opie walked into the shop while Kip began to lower her car to the ground, causing her to sigh. She prayed that it was nothing major, that it was just the water pump. Her dad slung his arm over her shoulders and chuckled, causing her to glance at him.

"What's so funny, Mr. Chuckles?" Pandora questioned jokingly. There was no doubt in her mind that it had something to do with her car and how she had neglected it. It wasn't as if the situation happened often or even to her before. But when a person starts to go on a cross country trip, things were bound to happen sooner or later.

Her father chuckled again quietly, shaking his head, "Nothing, just wondering what's wrong with your baby. Since she was restored you've never let anything like this happen to her before. "

She wanted to tell him that her mind wasn't exactly focused on her car during her trip, but... he would worry and be understandable given the situation. In reality, Pandora drove as much as she could, chugging down Red Bulls and coffee to get there quicker, not to mention didn't exactly go along with the speed limits that were set throughout the states she crossed. "Just ran outta water is all. It happens sometimes. I know I'm not the only person in the world that's done that before." Pandora retorted back with a small grin that caused her father to laugh.

"Let's go in. I want you to meet Gemma." Marcus said, giving her shoulder a light squeeze and started to lead them into the shop.

Birdie had mentioned Gemma before, but kept most things pretty vague. The two tried to talk at least every day, but after her father had to go back to Louisiana, the talking began to lessen. No one wanted her to stay down there, everyone wanted her to come back to them in Lodi. She couldn't and in saying no the extremely close relationship that the mother and daughter had delivered a blow. Staying there proved to Pandora that no man could scare her away from where she wanted to be. No matter how bad things got. Perhaps it was just a mother wanting to protect her child, perhaps not. Now there was no way of truly knowing and the thought of it caused her heart to hurt.

The two walked through the opened door to what she assumed was the office and the hazel eyed woman spotted an older lady at a desk, glasses resting comfortably on the edge of her nose and going over paperwork. The door shut and who she assumed was Gemma looked up from her paperwork, slipping the glasses off her face and smiled at the pair.

"Hey you two. I take it this is your daughter who you've spoken so much about." Standing she walked over to them, giving Marcus a kiss on his cheek and a hug then stepped back, crossing her arms to look over Pandora. "You look so much like your mother."

She nodded her head, running a hand through her long brunette locks, "I've been told that a lot. I guess it's a good thing."

"Very. Your mom is-" Gemma paused, shaking her head, "was, a beautiful woman. Inside and out." She seemed bothered by her slip up, since Pandora's mom wasn't around anymore and the older woman looked at Marcus, giving him a look that said 'sorry'.

"She was." Was the only thing that Pandora said, clearing her throat quietly and looked around. "Do you know by any chance when I'll know about my car?" There was a hopeful tone to her voice, that maybe she would be lucky enough to find out that day. The sooner she would know, the sooner she could get the money. Not to mention she didn't like leaving her car anywhere that wasn't her own driveway.

Looking out the window, Gemma noticed the car was already in the shop being looked at, "Pretty soon, I'd imagine. The boys are getting it done now."

She smiled lightly and nodded, tucking a hand into the back of her pants pocket. "I'm going to go out there and see if they know anything yet." Pandora looked at her dad and smiled, "I've got some stuff in the car too, unless you rode the bike. I can always get it at a later date."

Marcus pursed his lips in thought, shaking his head, "I rode, baby girl. I thought it was just you and not boxes. Figured everything was packed in the Uhaul." He watched as his daughter shook her head.

"Not everything. I still had to have clothes and other things while I was waiting for my lease to run out." Pandora waved her hand, "It's not a big deal. I'll just get it later." Smiling she gave his cheek a kiss and nodded to Gemma, leaving the office to go to the garage.

Gemma looked at Marcus as she sat back down, "Has she talked about it yet?" She asked, pushing her glasses back on her nose to glance at the papers on her desk. He shook his head, plopping down tiredly in a seat in front of the desk, running a hand over his graying hair, "Not one bit." He paused for a moment sighing, "I'm not even sure if she's cried about it. I don't know what to do, Gemma."

"Nothing you can do, baby. She has to come to terms with it in her own way. All you can do is be there for her if she decides to come to you about it and when she does." She wished there was more she could offer, but Gemma knew just as well as anyone else that you couldn't force someone to sit down and talk about something as tragic as Pandora and Marcus were going through. It could only be achieved with time.

The older man nodded his head, looking out the window to watch his daughter enter the garage, running her hand over the top of her car. "I know." He felt helpless, which was something he never enjoyed feeling.

**Meanwhile in the garage:**

Pandora stepped into the garage and took a quick look around, trying to see if she could spot someone. The hood of her car was up, but no one was in sight. She placed her aviators on her head, opening the driver side door to push the seat forward and shuffled around in the backseat. If she wasn't going to be able to drive her car away, then she'd at least want some things with her. Grabbing one of the backpacks she opened it up, starting to go through it until she heard different male voices, causing her to look up from her position. The two weren't the same guys who picked her up, but a guy with shoulder length blonde hair with an older gentleman beside him with salt and pepper shaded hair. The older one had been in a picture with Gemma that was on her desk. The only assumption she could gather was that he was her husband. The other though, she had no clue about. The two men spotted her and quickly made a B line to where she was.

"Can I help you with something, darlin'?" Questioned the blonde guy.

Happy with the contents in the bag she stood up, slinging it over her shoulder and pushed the driver seat back into place, shutting the door. "I'm just getting some stuff I may need. No one was out here and I have no idea about my car." Pandora rested her hip against the car door, tucking a hand in her front pocket.

The older man pointed a finger at her and chuckled, "Marcus and Birdies daughter." The suddenness of his statement caused her to arch a eyebrow, giving a slight nod of her head. It appeared everyone knew who she was without meeting her. She wasn't sure how she felt about that. Excited or worried.

"Uh, yeah. That's me. So what can you tell me about my car?" All Pandora wanted to do was get in a shower and then a bed. She didn't believe in beating around the bush, this wasn't any differently because it was her car. It was Eleanor. A classic muscle car.

The older man walked around to look under the hood, tinkering a little bit while the blonde guy stood there, smoking a cigarette and looking at Pandora. It made her uneasy, but it wasn't anything that she wasn't use to. He wasn't gawking at her, just... looking. Glancing at him the woman gave him a small smile, which he returned quickly and moved to stand beside the man. Following suit, she stood on the other side, peeking in over the opened hood. The older man stood back up and rubbed a hand against his chin, sighing quietly.

"It appears you've got a hole in your water tank that's making it leak, which would explain why you were smoking and had no water in there." He said, cleaning his hand on one of the grease rags that was close by.

She pinched her brow in frustration and clenched her eyes, "Can the leak be fixed or are you going to have to replace the entire tank?" Before even making the trip she made sure everything was fine with her car and nothing would go wrong while on the road. How they could miss a hole in her water tank was beyond her and it pissed her off a bit. Paying good money for service meant you were suppose to get just that; service.

"The hole's too big. It's bound to open back up eventually and you're going to have the same problem. It's best to just go ahead and replace the entire tank and nip the problem in the ass." He tossed the cloth carelessly on a toolbox that was close by, placing his hands on his hips. "Only one more problem after that: We don't exactly get cars like this around here, at least not classics. We don't have a tank that'll fit it, so we're going to have to order it."

The news was just another blow to her. The day was going horrible. Simply horrible. She looked at her car and shook her head, kicking the front tire much like she had done while on the side of the road. "Son of a bitch." Pandora muttered, putting her elbow on the top of the car to rest her temple against her fingers, going over the news she was just told. "How long will that take?"

Finally the blonde guy spoke, flicking the butt of his cigarette off to the side and gave a faint shrug of his shoulders, "Depends. We'll have to call around and see who's got one. We may can overnight it, depending on where it's at."

She sighed, nodded slightly. All she could do was hope that they could find something close by. She already knew she was going to be paying a good deal for this. It was like that when it came to getting parts for older cars, depending on the part. The way life was going at that point in time, Pandora felt she couldn't win anyway she tried. Everything was going wrong and it didn't matter how hard she tried to make it go right, it wasn't. The blame couldn't be pushed on anyone except the shop who did the examination of her car back in Louisiana. Even then it wouldn't do much good. It wasn't like they even really cared since she wasn't there anymore.

Glancing at the two Pandora adjusted the bag over her shoulder, "Just see what you can do, I guess. Let my dad know something when you can if you don't see me. I'll be staying with him for awhile until I can find a place to live." The idea didn't appeal to her, but it was better than wasting money at a hotel. It was going to be weird living back with her dad, knowing that she would wake up every morning and just see his face and not her mothers as well. It would be something that gnawed at her. The feeling wouldn't go away until she could get out of there and find a sanctuary for herself away from it all.

Both men nodded and she turned on her heel and walked away, placing her sunglasses back over her eyes. Her dad met her half way with Gemma and slung his arm back over his daughters shoulders. "What's the news, baby girl?"

"Nothing good. Hole in the water tank that's fixable, but they can't guarantee it'll fix the problem and it's just going to get worse and not hold." She paused, brushing her fingers against her forehead. "Only thing they can do is call around for a part since they don't have one. Means I'm going to be without a car for a couple of days or longer. Also means we're going to have to come back later and get the boxes in my trunk and the stuff from my backseat."

Marcus shook her head, sad to hear that his daughters car was going to be in the shop. In his opinion the Teller-Morrow Auto Shop was the best one around and as long as the car was there, it was safe and would be well taken care of. "We'll come back with the truck tomorrow and get it all. You can always ride your moms bike."

The idea didn't sit well with her and Gemma could easily see it on the girls face. "Jax can always use the SUV to take your stuff." The woman offered, causing Pandora to furrow her brows together in slight confusion. She hadn't met a Jax and wasn't sure if she'd be okay with him taking her things without her.

"Who's Jax?" She questioned, looking at Gemma.

The woman chuckled and nodded her head in the direction of the boys, "Jackson, my son. They didn't introduce themselves?" She paused, shaking her head, "The older one is Clay, my husband. If you want to take your stuff today I don't have a problem with it. It's safe here though." It was just reassurance she knew to make her feel more at ease about leaving her car in a strange place.

Pandora glanced behind her at the men and noticed them coming over the trio. "I can do it tomorrow or another time, really." Making people go out of their way didn't appeal to her and making someone carry her things to where she was staying was doing that. Yes, it would have to be done eventually, but it was something she could do by herself, not make someone else do it.

Jax shook his head, smiling, "Not a problem for me, darlin'. Gives me an excuse to get off work for a little bit anyways."

Gemma smiled and nodded her head, "Then it's settled." Digging in her pocket and pulled out the keys to her SUV and tossed them at Jax who caught them and jogged over to the large vehicle, backing it up to Pandora's car. He and Clay quickly began to unload the items and carefully place them in the back of the car. The sound of a low whistle caused everyone to look in their direction, only to see Jax holding up her cut.

"That's nice. A chick with a cut." He said, sporting a small grin which made Pandora shake her head.

The cut was much like the others in the Howling Wolf, except without a couple of patches. She rarely ever wore the garment anymore since she didn't own a motorcycle. There was a time when she did have her own bike, but Alex -her ex- had sold it off when the two needed rent money. It was long gone before she could even think of getting it back and he never told her who it was sold to. The act alone was betrayal, but that's one thing that he was good at. The car was emptied and Jax hopped back into the driver side, pulling up beside Pandora.

"You going to ride with me or your pop?" Jax questioned, lighting up a cigarette.

Pandora paused before answering, swinging the bag that was on her shoulder into her hand and kissed her dad on the cheek, "I'll ride with you. It's been awhile since I've been on the back of a bike. We'll just follow you, dad."

Marcus nodded and everyone said their goodbye's, Gemma waving to the couple in the SUV once Pandora was in and they took off, following the older biker as he lead the way. She just hoped the trip wasn't too long. Jax would probably start a conversation and it would be rude for her to just sit there and ignore him. He was attractive and gave off an air about himself. It wasn't exactly one of cockiness, but sure of himself. Confident. It was evident in the way he spoke. Her track record with guys wasn't one that was great and she didn't move to California to hop on some guys dick the moment he showed an interest in her. Granted, it was just a question of if she was going to ride with him or her dad, but she didn't want to be away from her belongings. Leaning her head back on the headrest she looked out the window, shutting her eyes for a moment to hide the hazel orbs from the blaring sun, only to slowly slip into a slumber with the help of the light rocking the car offered.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I'd like to thank all the people who added this story to their alerts and favorites, as well as myself to their author list. That means so much to me you have no idea. I'd like to thank demonicseer and HermonieandMarcus for reviewing the story. I'm glad that everyone's enjoying it as much as I'm enjoying writing it. I know it's rated M and it's for a reason. -wink- No worries, things are going to get juicy -hopefully- later on.**

_She was no longer tied to the bed, but her wrists still felt the burn of the silk ties that had been tightly bound to them, forcing them to stay attached to the iron headboard. Moving was one of those things that felt impossible; her entire body was tense and stiff, hurting in places she had no idea could actually hurt in such a way. It wasn't a good feeling to have. Most knew that some stiff and tense feelings were good ones that were reminders of the previous nights excitements. This wasn't one of those._

_Instead it was a haunting feeling, something that made her afraid to actually open her eyes and take the chance to look around. He was so mad, and though Pandora had seen Alex angry before, this was beyond his normal temper tantrums he threw. Taking the chance of opening her eyes the woman did so, seeing that the only light he left on was the bathroom light. The room was connected to the bathroom and with the door wide open the milky white light basked the room in it's rays, lighting up the area. The first thing her hazel eyes connected with were the blood spatters on the white sheets and her arm._

_Blood._

_Alex had kept his promise of making her bleed. Being rough in the bedroom wasn't something that was new to her. There were lines to everything though; boundaries that Pandora would never allow to be crossed and even at times she could understand that the line was so thin between pain and pleasure that you never knew where one started and the other ended. Blood play wasn't one of the things she enjoyed. To get blood, a person had to bleed and normally it was the submissive who's blood was spilled. Being in pain wasn't a turn on, but she would be the first to admit that some things that were done didn't hurt, and if they did it was soon melted away into something pleasurable that caused her toes to curl._

_Pandora moved slightly, wincing quietly to herself at the pain in her back while she tried to push herself up on her elbows. She had to get into the bathroom to look at the damage he had done. The more she moved and tried to sit up on the bed, the more her back hurt. It was horrible, worse than a fresh tattoo and she knew all about that. There were plenty on her body and even some in what most called 'sensitive areas'. Glancing at her shoulders and arms, she noticed the blood had dried, turning the normally red life force to that ugly dark red, brown color. The woman was scared to move her arms, afraid that whatever damage was done would only be worsened by the movement. It took her sitting there a minute or two before she managed to talk herself into pushing herself off of the bed, standing up only to find her legs were weak and quickly clutched onto the nightstand._

_She took the brief moment to look at the bed, noting the crimson liquid that soaked itself into the pure whit sheets. A strangled sob stuck in her throat and her eyes began to sting with the feeling of fresh __tears threatening to spill over at any moment, like a glass that was overflowing with liquid. How had she gotten herself in such a situation as this? Pandora came from a good family filled with love and care. Had she really been so foolish in thinking that Alex would change? Things weren't ever so simple. She took a deep breath and stood up the best she could, hunching over slightly. She had to get to a phone and the bathroom. Not knowing was worse than knowing and with all the blood she had to see._

_A sudden noise caused her head to turn, forcing her to pause abruptly in her movements. The sound of her pounding heart in her ears caused her to strain to listen for more sounds, trying to see if she could hear footsteps on the hardwood floors the small house offered._

_Silence._

_There was no telling how long she had been on the bed bleeding out, but all the moving caused her to become slightly light headed. Pandora took a deep breath in, resting a hand on the wall to brace herself on, slowly making her way to the bathroom. She stopped and turned around, looking for her purse. Seeing the damage done to her wasn't as important as calling her dad. He'd know what to do, where to go. She was slowly moving around, doing her best to brace her weight on anything she could in hopes it would help her. Finally she spotted her bag, and snatched it up, digging out her cellphone._

_Part of her was scared to call him. Not because he would yell at her, but because of what he would do. After staring at her phone for a couple of minutes she dialed his number and waited. She heard her fathers voice ring out from the earpiece on the phone after a couple of rings and just as she was about to say something Pandora turned around. Instead of looking into the bathroom the injured woman was face to face with Alex. His lip was turned up in sneer and she dropped the phone, frozen in place._

_Alex pulled his hand back and pushed it forward, causing her to scream loudly and then the world went black._

Pandora was jerked from her nightmare with a scream, her arm jutting forward with a tight fist, coming into contact with something somewhat hard. The action was followed by a groan and a string of curse words that made the woman quickly open her eyes and look around. She came face to face with Jax and gasped audibly, covering her mouth with her hands as she looked him over, watching as he rubbed his jaw in pain.

"Oh my god, Jax. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hit you." She turned in her seat sideways, allowing her legs to dangle out of the open door.

Jax turned his head to the side, spitting out some blood in the process. "Damn darlin', you didn't have to clock me. I was just trying to wake you up." His tone was harsh, one that caused Pandora to clench her eyes shut tightly and hang her head in shame.

"I'm really sorry. It's not like I knew it was you or anything. I was asleep."

"And having a nightmare from the sounds of it." He said, spitting out some more blood.

Pandora felt horrible she had hit him. All he had been doing so far was help her and she repaid him by punching him in the jaw. Running a shaky hand through her hair she took a deep breath it, allowing for it to come out in a sigh and she opened her eyes, moving her hazel ones to meet Jax's blues. The vivid images where still in the front of her minds eye and she tried her hardest to will them away. Her father was going to have a field day with what had just happened, which meant he was going to sit her down and figure out what the problem was. There was no way Pandora could tell him that it had to do with Alex. If she did he'd drive back down to Louisiana and kill the man himself.

She bit on her bottom lip, grabbing the bag and jacket that had been between her legs on the floor and set it in her lap, "I shouldn't have done what I did." The woman paused, glancing at the red mark on his lower jaw that was beginning to swell, "Do you need some ice?"

He shook his head and moved back even more from the opened door, giving Pandora room to jump down if she wished to. She did and slung the backpack over her shoulder and her jacket over her arm, taking a moment to look around as she shut the door. It was nice where her parents lived. Pretty, in what appeared to be a motorcycle infested neighborhood. No wonder this was where her parents planted their roots. They were at home with people who shared the biggest interest they had. There were a couple of bikes she was able to recognize that belonged to some of the members in her dads MC. Pandora turned her attention back to Jax and gave him an apologetic look, still feeling bad about the punch to his face.

"Are you sure you'll be okay?"

"Why, do I need to stand away from you just in case you have the sudden urge to match the other side of my jaw to the one that's currently in pain?" Jax questioned, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

All she could do was stand there for a minute, looking at him. Shaking her head she moved past him, going into the house, "Ya know, you make it sound like you've never been hit before or that I'm going to abuse you in some ways."

"The thought entered my mind." He smirked lightly, following behind her as they walked in, shutting the door as soon as he entered.

"You're fuckin' with me, aren't you?" She inquired, throwing the bag and jacket on the couch, followed by her sunglasses. Turning around she placed her hands on her hips, her attention focused on Jax.

"Maybe just a little bit, darlin'. I'll be fine, really. It's just fun making you agitated. You do this little wrinkle nose thing."

As if on cue her nose involuntary wrinkled slightly at the little bit of information in his statement. She paused for a moment and then released the tension in her nose, allowing it to go back to normal. Her mother use to say she looked like a bunny when she did that. A very sad, but cute bunny who was trying to get her way. It's something she did since she was a child and most of the most time when the small, delicate nose wrinkled in front of her father, she was able to get her way. With her mother, not so much. Moms had an immunity to such a thing, while fathers didn't. Poor guys.

"Yep, that nose wrinkle right there." Jax chuckled quietly and nodded his head in her direction.

Her shoulder shrugged slightly and Pandora turned on her heels, making her way into the kitchen. "Is my dad here? I didn't see his bike outside." She called out as she opened the fridge, bending over to try and find something to drink. Nothing but silence came from the living-room and she grabbed a beer, popping it open with the edge of the kitchen counter and entered the living-room once more.

Jax was still there, hands shoved deeply in his pockets like he was trying to see how deep they could actually go and was looking around. Pandora took a swig of her beer, leaning against the door frame that separated the kitchen and the living-room, just watching him.

He glanced up at her and cleared his throat quietly, taking the opportunity to look around. "He had to go to the funeral home in Charming to finish some things for your moms funeral."

Her lips twisted to the side in thought at the news. It wasn't like she forgot about Birdie's funeral. How could she? It was the entire purpose behind the sudden move. She was only lucky she had a month to month lease, which allowed her to wait until the last months rent was due before packing up and ducking out. For a moment Pandora wondered why her dad hadn't asked her to go along with her. But knowing him he was afraid she would break down and not be able to stop. Crying in public wasn't her cup of tea. She'd bury her emotions until the time was right to unleash the floodgate. If she ever did.

"I see. Well then," She paused, taking a deep swig of her beer and placed it on the side table that was closest to her, "let's get that shit out of your car so you can be on your way."

"It's already done sweetheart, I did it while you where counting Z's in the SUV." Jax threaded his hand through his hair and for a moment she watched as the blonde strands fells directly back into place once his hand was free of them. Her own hand wanted to mimic the same motion to him, see if she had the same result he did. She shook her head lightly as if trying to knock the sudden thoughts from her head.

No, absolutely not.

She knew how bikers were most of the time and Jax was one of those cute ones. The small lines on his face was proof that he was older, perhaps even older than her. Tattoos littered his arms under the white tee he wore and she had no doubt that there were bound to be more under the shirt. The cut which he was now sporting wasn't one that he was wearing earlier. He put it on most likely once he began moving, letting people in the area know that he was there as friend and was just helping out. Perhaps bikers were looked at differently here and they weren't going to be harassed like they were back in La. All Pandora could do was hope.

She gave a brief nod of her head and started to unbutton the couple of buttons that was holding the vest she wore together in front of her midsection, revealing a black silk corset that was buttoned in the front, sporting multiple silver skull and crossbones on it. She ran her hand over the material, feeling the smooth silk over the delicate pads of her fingers and reached for her beer once more, taking another deep swig from the brown bottle.

"Thanks, I appreciate it." Pandora gave him a light smile, one that didn't exactly reach her eyes. The reason didn't have anything to do with Jax. She was weary was all, tired. The nap in the car proved to help her in her weariness, but still her body ached for more.

It would have been rude to just send him on his way, at least, that's what she thought. He didn't appear to be in a rush to get back to the shop, since he was still standing in her living-room like some sort of Greek god statue that most likely came naturally to him. She took a moment to glance at the mini grandfather clock that was attached to the wall and noticed it was four in the afternoon. It was still pretty earlier and as the two stood there in comfortable silence, she wondered if asking him if he'd like a beer would have been an acceptable thing to do. One beer couldn't hurt and Pandora would make sure she was kept somewhat busy so it didn't appear she was interested in him.

Everyone had a story, even her and part of her couldn't help but be partially curious as to what his story contained. Personally, Pandora had never really been the type to share information about herself or her family. They did things that would shock most people, which would likely ensure that if they knew, the first thing they would do was run to the cops and tell them. Others knowing personal information meant that her families lives were at stake, not to mention those in the MC as well. Vague was a good thing, one thing she had learned and managed to get rather good doing. She wasn't sure how she could ever live with herself knowing she let something slip and the action of it was someone she cared about going to jail for a long time.

She knew the consequences to their actions, but they were just trying to do what they had to to get by. Probably not the most legit and legal way, but hey. Everyone did their own thing from time to time.

"Would you like something to drink? We have beer, juice, tea." She offered, moving once more into the kitchen to look into the fridge. The sound of Jax's footsteps on the hardwood floor of the house alerted her that he was coming in there with her and soon she was greeted with the view of his face.

He propped his shoulder against the frame and leaned forward a bit, blue eyes scanning the contents of the appliance. "Beer would be fine with me."

Giving a brief nod of her head she pulled out another beer, cracking the tight metal cap off the top and handed it to him. He took it, bringing the bottle to his lips to take a brief swig then pulled out his cigarettes, lighting one.

"Don't mind that I smoke do you? I noticed the ashtrays and figured it would be okay." Jax spoke in between blowing out the smoke and taking another drink of his beer.

She waved her hand carelessly and walked to the kitchen counter, hopping on top of it to swig her feet lightly back and forth, "Nah, it's fine. I smoke myself, so it doesn't bother me too much." As if to prove her point she pulled out her cigarettes and lit one, placing the flask like cigarette holder beside her on the counter.

Jax stepped into the kitchen a little more, moving to stand beside Pandora, but not close enough that made her feel uncomfortable. The two sat in silence, drinking their beer and smoking their cigarettes, sharing the glass ashtray that sat in between the two. The silence wasn't unbearable. Instead it was comfortable, but Pandora was sure that Jax was probably figuring out something to say. She was right and after a couple of minutes he spoke up.

"I'm really sorry about your mom. She was a great person. Made one hell of a pie too." He glanced at her sporting a small smile.

The statement caused Pandora to smile absently and chuckle, faintly nodding her head. Birdie was popular for her pies. They were always so moist and delicious, just enough sweetness to get you by and never too hot. She had fond memories of being in the kitchen with her mom, sitting on the counter like she was at that moment with Jax as she allowed the smell of fresh baked treats waft towards her noise. If Pandora was lucky enough, her mom would let her get a small taste of them before dinner. The little bite only made her want more, making her mouth water.

She glanced at Jax while her fingers started to peel the label off her beer bottle, "I appreciate it." Pandora paused to take the final drag of her cigarette, snuffing out the glowing cherry on in the end in the ashtray and blew the smoke to the side. "She really was amazing. Growing up she made sure everyone was okay and as well as they could be. Basically the rock that held us all together; including the guys in the club."

"Gemma's like that. Strong and stubborn, but cares about her own." He followed suit and put out his cigarette out as well, leaning his back against the counter.

"That's not always a bad thing. The only thing you can count on in this world are those you put your trust in." She hopped off the counter and chugged the rest of her beer, tossing the empty bottle into the trashcan before grabbing another from the fridge. Instead of hopping back on the counter, she went into the living-room to collect the her things and moved to where she would be staying. She'd have to start looking for other places and hoped there would be some close by. If not, she'd have to look into the places surrounding Lodi, which would just be more of a hassle. There was something loath worthy about packing and moving. It didn't help any where it seemed like you had to continue to move from one place to the next.

Once in her room Pandora looked around at all the boxes, groaning quietly to herself at the thought of unpacking them all, only to repack them later. Tossing her jacket and bag on the bed she moved over to the vanity, placing her beer on the top of the black antique wood makeup vanity. In the main large mirror she could see Jax in the doorway, leaning against the frame. He seemed to be following her everywhere she went and it made her question why. She was a big girl and could get by on her on. If there was one thing that bothered her in the entire world, it was people hovering. Pandora would have been fine by herself and the little grin on his sexy face only made matters worse.

"Nice guitar. You play?" Jax questioned, nodding his head in the direction of the Gibson acoustic guitar that was placed carefully no doubt on her bed.

Pandora took another long swig of her beer, as if she was trying to erase bad memories from her mind and looked at him through the mirror, nodding faintly, "I use to. That's not even my guitar."

"Who's is it?"

It appeared she wouldn't have a peaceful moment alone without memories of her mother. Pandora knew it was going to be like that when she moved. To be surrounded by things that screamed memories at her was bad, but when the memories were things that made the situation worse, no one wanted to think about them. It wasn't that it made the situation worse, per say, but it did make her harder to come to terms with it. She knew her mother was dead. There was no denying that. It wasn't like she lived in some delusional world where she thought her mother was going to walk through the door at any moment laughing and scream 'Fooled ya.' No, she lived in the real world where people died ever minute, of every day, of ever year. Denial wasn't a part of this.

She turned around and grabbed the guitar by the neck, feeling the strings under her fingers and went to the closet. "It was my moms." Opening the closet Pandora stood on her tiptoes to tuck it away carefully in the top of her closet. Pandora didn't even want to see it at that moment.

"Why you puttin' it away?" He took a swig of his beer and took a couple of more steps into the room, leaning his lower back against the wall and placed his head against it. He was confused as to why she wouldn't want to have such a thing out in the open, maybe even play it. To put such an amazing guitar up was a shame and seemed to be a sin against something so beautiful.

"Because I don't want to look at it right now." Pandora paused and shut the closet, grabbing her beer once more, "Why are you still here anyways?" The question came out somewhat harsh, a lot harsher than what she meant for it to.

Jax looked as if he had just been hit in the face (again). He finished the rest of his beer and slammed the bottle down on her nightstand, tucking his hands in his jean pockets. "I wanted to see how you were doing, talk to you, get to know you. But if you want to act like a bitch then fuck it, I'll leave."

And with that he turned around and made his way to the door, but not before calling out to her, "Enjoy the rest of your day, darlin'. We'll contact you once your cars fixed." Then the door slammed and the sound of him peeling out of the driveway in the SUV could be heard.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Another chapter's here! So sorry for the delay, but with the holidays recently passing, college, and work, I've been pretty swamped. I decided to do a Polyvore of Pandora's bedroom, as well as her tattoo's. You can find the links in my profile. I'd like to thank those that reviewed: JaxLover, Aqua, HermonieandMarcus, and ChloeTeller2k11. I plan to do some things that they didn't really do in SoA, just some ideas. I don't really want to do the same things that everyone's done, I like being original and doing something different. I'm not even sure if anything like this would happen (it happens here) there, but guess what? MY STORY! -cackles- They won't happen in this chapter, but in later ones.**

After Jax left, Pandora felt horrible. Normally she wasn't the type to snap at people or even be harsh, but for some reason she felt the need to. Maybe because he was being so nice to her without knowing about her. Perhaps it was that she thought he was so freakin' attractive that it scared her. After Alex, Pandora had one night stands and very few at that. She didn't trust guys anymore, all because of one bad apple. It was hard for her to open herself up again like that, make herself feel vulnerable. It was always a constant struggle within herself as to what she should she should do and in the end she normally retreated into herself and went about her business. It was easy to fake a smile and a good mood most of the time. No one ever really seemed to be able to tell if something was wrong. She didn't label it as a depression sort of thing, because she wasn't depressed. Just wary. Very, very wary.

The only thing that she wanted to do was curl up in her bed and sleep for the rest of the day and after a long shower she wrote her dad a note, telling him she was sorry and that she just couldn't keep her eyes open any longer. It was only half true. After her shower she changed into a pair of sleeping shorts and a black tank top, then made her way into her bedroom. The unpacking of the boxes would have to wait for another day and with that she crawled into her bed. It took her forever to fall asleep it seemed and as she laid there looking at the ceiling, but eventually her body relaxed, as did her mind and she slowly slipped off into a peaceful sleep.

The next morning she was greeted with wet licks across her face and the smell of puppy breath. Her dad had warned her of the new German Shepard puppy he had bought named Cujo, and Pandora assumed that it was who was practically licking her to death. Peeking open an eye she chuckled at the cute brown and black dog who's tail seemed to be wagging ninety to nothing in enticement. He ducked back playfully as she tried to pet him, only to pounce on her hand the minute she laid it back against the white comforter. It caused her to laugh quietly and sit up in the bed, grabbing the dog under it's front legs to pull it close.

"Well aren't you just the cutest thing alive?" She asked it, not really expecting an answer, but received a lick to her nose in response. She chuckled and shook her head, scratching behind his ear, "I bet dad left you here to wake me up, hm?"

Cujo made a sound that was mixed between a whine and a pant. He was cute, that was for sure. But she'd have to be careful about leaving things around for him to chew on. If he got a pair of her shoes or a piece of her wardrobe, she'd dislike him forever. Perhaps not forever, but a good while. They had a dog when she was growing up, but he wasn't a puppy like this. Just the way his tail wagged, his eyes closed half way when he was being petted, and his all around sweet nature made her believe he was nothing like Aldo. Same breed, different personalities luckily.

Collecting the puppy under her arm as well as her glasses on the nightstand she stood from the bed and slipped on her zebra print house boots and went into the kitchen. There on the counter was a note from her dad, explaining where he went and when he'd be back. Apparently there was business at the clubhouse that he had to take care of. Pandora set Cujo on the floor and picked up the note, reading it over. Stacy was coming over, a childhood friend who's parents belonged to he MC, as well as herself. She married into it much like most women do, and was now the Old Lady of Raphael, an ex of Pandora's.

The two decided to just be friends after giving dating a go. It wasn't that Raphael wasn't a good guy, quite the opposite. He just wasn't the right guy for her. It was never awkward between the two when they were around each other, something Pandora was thankful for. She tried to stay away from dating guys in the MC just for that reason alone. While most girls pine for being the Old Lady of a guy in a biker club -the ones who actually have an interest with what they did or found themselves falling in love with the guy himself- she didn't. That didn't mean that if it happened she would go against it, no. But there were other guys out there and though it would be harder to explain the things the club did to him, if she fell in love with someone outside of the MC, so be it.

But she wasn't capable of love like that anymore. She was damaged and broken goods. No one wanted that.

Stacy and Pandora were attached at the hip growing up. It was impossible to see one and not see the other. Her childhood friend was the type to always get them in to trouble. She went along with whatever Stacy came up with to do. Somehow, she always talked Pandora in to tagging along, making it sound like such a good idea. They were adventurous and carefree, doing things on a whim instead of having some sort of plan laid out. Things didn't change when the MC moved to Cali; the girls were still going crazy, doing things together and causing trouble. It broke Stacy's heart when her best friend decided to go back home, and instead of going with her decided that California was the place she wanted to grow and settle down. She didn't blame her; it was a beautiful place to live with plenty of quiet areas for a person to go and allow their mind to be peaceful. There was a place like that for Pandora and Stacy was the only person that knew about it.

As if on cue there was a knock at the door which caused Cujo to start barking, if you wanted to even call it that. Peeking out of the window she saw Stacy and took a deep breath in, opening the door. She was greeted with tan arms wrapped tightly around her neck, feeling as if Stacy was trying to squeeze her head off.

"You're such a sight for sore eyes, Panda Bear." Squealed Stacy, letting go just enough so that she could pull back and look the woman over, resting her hands against her arms. "New ink too. Me likes."

Pandora chuckled and swung the door shut with her foot, smiling softly at Stacy. Her friend hadn't changed much, but changed none the less. Her hair was shorter and she could see a couple of new tattoos herself. Still, she looked just like she had when Pandora drove away that day.

"Don't ever stay away so long again. I might have to drive down there and kidnap you if you do." Joked Stacy, gliding through the kitchen to fix herself a cup of coffee.

"I'm staying for good I think. Maybe not Lodi, but California." Cujo ran to Stacy and jumped up slightly on her leg, pawing at her pants. "Cujo, no. We don't treat guests like that. No matter how bad they may be." Pandora smirked in her cup of coffee, watching as the German Shepard retreated back into the living-room.

Stacy turned around with her cup and gave Pandora a make shift evil eye look that came off more silly then what she most likely intended it to be. "Funny, really funny."

"I do try."

There was a silence in the kitchen and Pandora began to wonder if the kitchen was some sort of silence area. First Jax, now Stacy? It was like people didn't know what to say to her. Her mother died, the world didn't end. If that's how people were going to continually act, then she might as well just stay in the house for the rest of her life.

Pandora glanced at Stacy as she sat down in one of the kitchen chairs, crossing her legs, "I know, you're sorry to hear about mom. Don't do that silence thing, Stac, it really freaks me out." Running a hand over her face she stifled a yawn, resting her temple against the palm of her hand as she looked the other woman over.

Stacy sighed softly and rubbed the back of her neck, grabbing the white cup of coffee and moved to sit across from Pandora, looking her over. She knew people were worried, and concerned about how she was doing, but she didn't know what to say to people to put them at ease. Pandora wasn't in no way happy about everything, just comfortably numb. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to face the facts. Not yet, at least.

"I'm sorry. Really, I'm not trying to be all weird and awkward. But I'm your oldest friend and it's our job to worry."

"You don't have to be worried. I'm fine." Pandora said, not sure if the reassurance was for Stacy or herself.

Stacy sighed and nodded slightly, looking down at the ground for a minute and then chuckled, "You punched Jax?"

Groaning, Pandora slumped in her seat, somewhat frustrated, "He told everyone? Really? I figured he wouldn't let people know that a female got one up on him."

"Please, he told everyone. Said you pulled some sort of weird ninja move and just bam! Hit him."

"It wasn't quite like that."

"Then what was it like?" Stacy questioned, taking a sip of the smoking coffee. She winced and rubbed on her top lip, "Freakin' hell, that's hot."

"Yeah... it's coffee. It's the whole point of it." She smirked, taking a brief sip of her own.

"Don't change the subject. Punch. Jax. Ninja move. Explain." The look on Stacy's face spoke volumes. She wasn't going to let it go until there was an explanation.

Stacy knew about what happened and came down to Louisiana for a couple of weeks to make sure that Pandora was okay. The friend was furious and she had never seen her like that before. She wanted to break Alex's neck, toss his body in the swamps so that the alligators could eat him. There was good reason for her to be so upset; her best friend had been hurt. Who wouldn't want to do such a thing to the person that caused it? If it had been Stacy in the same situation, Pandora would have felt the _exact_ same thing. The only reason that she didn't do what she desired was the fact that Marcus said he would handle it, and he did.

Pandora stood from her seat and moved to the sink to start washing the dishes from breakfast her father had left behind, trying to keep her hands busy while Stacy drilled her for answers. "Why do you think?"

"I don't want to think. I want to know."

Her shoulders slumped in defeat and she glanced over her shoulder, watching as Stacy practically stared holes into her skull. "I had a nightmare about Alex."

Stacy's eyes darkened and she canted her head slightly to the side, waiting for her to continue on.

She licked her lips and braced her weight against the counter, lowering her head to look at the floor, "It was from the night of the attack. Reliving it all over again. Since hearing about my mom it's like I can barely get a good nights sleep in. Like it triggered it." The thoughts made her weary, just remembering it all. Drying her hands on the small kitchen towel she reached for her cigarettes, lighting one to take a deep drag from, exhaling the smoke to the side. "I'm not blaming this on her death. It just seems like it just drug up all this shit."

"I know you're not sweetie, but you can't let him do this to you. He's ruling your life still and you're letting him."

Most people wanted to move past things like that in their lives, to forget and make it all just one bad memory. Pandora wanted to, truly wanted to. But it would be harder for her. A lot harder. She didn't think the things that happened to her were no worse than what someone else went through that happened to find themselves in a situation such as that. Each one was horrible in it's own way. There was hope that eventually Pandora would get past it all and forget it even happened, but it was highly unlikely. Though, she knew Stacy was right. Sometimes it was just easier to say 'not anymore' than actually doing something about it.

"Alex still gets what he wants, even though he's no longer in your life. That's pretty fucked, if you ask me."

Pandora took another drag of her cigarette and glanced at Stacy, shaking her head lightly, "That's not even the half of it. I can't even get laid anymore."

"What? That's stupid. Everyone can get action."

She shook her head again, flicking the gray ashes into the nearby tray. "Yeah, I can. In the dark. The first time a guy spots the scars on my back, he freaks out. Goes to the bathroom and never comes back or if we're at his place, he has to go suddenly. I'm not stupid, I know why."

It never failed. Pandora was a beautiful woman and had no self-esteem issues. But when it came to the marks on her back left from her ex, she couldn't bare to let it go. Every time she was out of the shower she looked at them, canting her head around in the full length mirror in her bedroom to examine them. They were ugly, beyond ugly. Disgusting and made her look like a bear attack victim. It was rare for her to ever wear anything that revealed her back and if she happened to pick a top that did, she wore a jacked or some sort of thing that would cover most of it. Some reached up the back of her neck, but her hair was able to conceal most of that. There was one time when she asked her tattoo artist about covering them up in hopes they would be gone for good by something beautiful. To her disdain, anything that she got would look weird because the scars were so deep in the skin. Not to mention the pain that would come from the scar tissue that rested beneath the skin. It wasn't the pain that bothered her, it was the fact that even then a person would still be able to see them.

"I call bullshit. If a guy likes you he's not going to care about some fucked up move in your past that wasn't even your fault." Stacy stated in a matter of fact tone.

"I guess in the end Alex did what he said he would: Make it so no man ever wants me again." Her voice started to crack slightly at the sudden rush of emotions and she cleared her throat, taking the final puff of her cigarette and snuffed it out.

Stacy stood then and crossed the distance between them in what appeared to be three large steps. "Don't ever let some stupid shit like that come out of your mouth again Pandora Marie Lynch or I'll pop you so hard across your head you're going to think a tow truck ran over you."

Glancing at Stacy she nodded, turning her attention back to the sink. When it all happened she refused to go to therapy. Talking about her feelings and what happened would only make it worse. Or so she thought. Instead, she just buried them deep inside and tried to move on in the world, placing a smile on her lips. After awhile it was easy to do. It didn't make it any better, but it put other people at ease.

"You know what you need?" Questioned Stacy, leaning her hip against the side of the counter.

"No, what do I need?" Drying her hands once more on the kitchen towel, she mimicked her friends stance and watched her.

A smile came to Stacy's face and she pulled out a cigarette case much like Pandora's and popped it open to pull out something that defiantly wasn't a cigarette. Twirling it between her fingers she couldn't help but grin, "This. You need to smoke and relax."

Pandora was fighting a smile as she plucked the joint from her friends fingers. "I don't need to smoke to relax."

"Maybe not, but come on. There isn't anything we need to do today so let's just sit here and smoke."

She twisted her lips to the side while thinking of it. She could, it was true that she didn't have much to do but unpack and eventually start looking for a different place to stay, as well as a job. Being twenty-seven and living with your parents wasn't her ideal situation. In her bank account there was enough money to tide her over until she managed to get a job, luckily and it would be something that she started sooner rather than later.

Glancing at her friend once more, Pandora nodded her head and reached for the lighter, lighting the joint to take a couple of hits off and then passed it to Stacy.

"So what did Jax say when you hit him?" She questioned, taking a couple of hits off the joint herself.

Exhaling the smoke Pandora chuckled, "Nothing really. He didn't seem to upset by it. Said I was having a nightmare. I feel bad about it." She paused, toying with the edges of the dishtowel. "I kinda snapped at him before he left, though. Asked him why he was still hanging around."

"That's just Jax. He's that good bad boy. Oxymoron, but true. He's really sweet, but he has a temper like anyone else." She passed the join to Pandora who nodded, rolling the tightly wrapped grass between her index and thumb.

"There's nothing wrong with that. I think I'm going to apologize for it." She took another hit from the joint and held it a minute before letting out the smoke, "I do feel bad that I snapped at him like I did. He didn't deserve it."

Stacy nodded her head slightly, "Probably not, but I'm sure he understands. Are you going to wait till your car's fixed?"

"How did you know my car was in the shop?" She knew that Charming was small, but Stacy lived in Lodi. It didn't occur to her that perhaps Jax told her, or someone else from the shop. Possibly even her dad.

"Raphael works at the shop in Charming. He saw the car and told me. If you want I can take you. I'm suppose to bring him some lunch anyways, so I'm going that way."

Pandora paused for a minute, taking another hit off the joint before passing it back to Stacy. Would he even want to see her or accept her apology? It was always worth a shot. She wasn't a mean person and normally was as sweet as honey. Maybe he would even understand that she was going through a lot at the moment and the snap was one of those things that just happened. What was the worst that could happen? Jax tell her to go fuck herself, to leave the shop? He was still going to work on her car, thankfully which meant something. At least, she hoped it did.

"Alright. Let me shower and then we can go." She left the kitchen, but quickly turned around and made her way back in. "Actually, I have an idea."

Stacy arched her brow and took another hit from her joint before snubbing out the cherry, placing it back in her container. "I'm scared to ask what."

She chuckled, shaking her head slightly. "No need to worry, I know what I'm doing."

**Some hours later:**

There she was, sitting in Stacy's car with a warm cherry pie in her lap. Pandora was nervous about going to the shop, but it seemed like the right thing to do. The pie was just something to try and bribe Jax with, since he did mention enjoying her mothers pies. It was just one of the many things the pair did together growing up. Sitting in the kitchen wasn't all the woman did. She watched, asked why her mother was doing certain things and eventually inquired about learning herself. Much to her mothers surprise, it seemed her daughter had a knock for making the desserts like she did and the two would bake pies together on the weekend. It probably seemed to silly to some people, but when your family was in the restaurant business, there wasn't much else to do when you wanted to spend time together. Never really bothered her, in the end it was something to do that kept her out of trouble. With Stacy always close by, it was hard to do from time to time.

Her fingers played with the edges of the pie pan, feeling the smooth, warm glass under her fingers as she looked out the window, idly talking to Stacy as the two went. The close they came, the more her heart pounded in her chest. Normally apologizing for actions wasn't something she did, mainly because she didn't feel bad about them or they were warranted in some way. Jax hadn't done anything for them. The only reason she was doing this was because of that fact alone.

Pulling up to the shop Pandora fixed her sunglasses and adjusted the purse over her shoulder as she stepped out, holding the pie pan in both of her hands. Much like the day before there were bikes everywhere, along with a couple of cars scattered here and there across the lot. She looked over the bikes, trying to see if she could pick out the one that was Jax's. There were a couple of choices, but none that she could tell for certain. In her opinion, the type of car or motorcycle that a person had said something of their personality and who they were. Even her own car said something about who she was. Perhaps not while it was sitting in the shop or when it began to smoke because of her own foolish neglect (that hadn't really been hers to begin with), it still said something.

Stacy gave Pandora's shoulder a nudge, pulling her from her thoughts and turn her attention to her childhood friend. She just smiled at her and nodded her head towards the shop. There, in a white muscle shirt was Jax, rubbing his greasy hands on a red grease rag as he looked into into the hood of the car.

"I'm going to be in the clubhouse feeding my man. You should come in when you get done." Stacy chuckled, giving Pandora's hip a small bump bump with her own and then left the brunette standing there, watching Jax.

He seemed comfortable, in his element as he tinkered here and there under the hood. It wasn't her car, which meant that either they hadn't ordered the part yet or that it would be a while before it would ever come in. She shifted slightly on her feet before Pandora took a deep breath and moved closer to him, only to stop and turn on her heels about to go back to the car until Jax called her name. She paused and glanced over her shoulder, turning around to face him with a small smile as he jogged over to her.

"What are you doing here?" He questioned, once more cleaning his hands on the rag.

Pandora shifted her weight slightly, twisting her lips to the side. "I felt bad about snapping at you like I did for no reason yesterday and you said you liked my moms pies so..." She trailed off, motioning to the cherry pie, "I baked you one. As an apology."

Hesitating for a moment, she held the pie out to him. Jax looked it over for a minute, a slight confusion spreading across his face. Perhaps baking the pie was a mistake, maybe Pandora should have opted for something else, like taking him out for drinks or something of the like. She was about to decline her offer, and most likely toss the dessert out to the trash. But before she could pull it back towards her he reached for it, carefully taking it from her hands into his, their fingers brushing against the others in the process.

As cliché as it sounded, there was a small spark that shot through her digits, down her spine and to her toes. Her eyes shot up to his face to see if there was a chance he felt it as well, but he showed no signs of it. Watching as Jax dipped his finger into the pie to collect some of the sweet, red substance on it and popped it in his mouth, causing her to chuckle quietly when he made a soft 'mm' sound.

"I take it you approve?" Pandora questioned, a small grin turning up the corner of her mouth.

Jax nodded, taking another taste of the cherry pie from his finger. "Extremely approve of. Tastes just like your moms, and that's saying something."

She couldn't help but chuckle, running a hand through her hair to twirl a couple of the brunette strands around her fingers. "It should; it's her recipe and she did teach me how to bake."

That seemed to intrigue the man and he smirked playfully, "Ya know, if you really want to say you're sorry, you'll cook for me."

Arching a brow she crossed her arms over her stomach, canting her head slightly to the side. Cook for him? As in, him and her? At her house? Cooking a meal for Jax? It wasn't that the idea didn't appeal to her, but she also didn't want to give him the wrong idea. It wasn't like he asked her on a date or even insinuated that it was anything but a meal. He had to eat. She had to eat.

"It depends. Your meal, your choice. So, what it you'd want?"

He took a couple of steps closer to her and leaned in somewhat. "I want a good, southern, home cooked meal."

Pandora laughed quietly, shaking her head. "How many people should I expect?"

"You really think that I'm going to share that with others? Just two: you and I."

"Alright. My place?" She questioned, her mind starting to try and figure out exactly what it was that she was going to prepare.

He paused for a minute, thinking as he took another lick of the pie. "How about mine? My mom's going out so I'll have Abel and I'd hate to drag him to your place."

It was then that Pandora stopped her thinking, her brows furrowing together lightly in confusion. Abel? Who was Abel? She hadn't seen him with anyone else, but that didn't mean there wasn't. She was never one to really pry into someones life, figuring that since she didn't like it, no one else would, too.

"You look confused." He chuckled, motioning for her to follow him into their clubhouse.

She followed behind him, pulling her sunglasses back over her eyes. There was no way he would have known if it wasn't for her eyes. They normally gave things away and Pandora knew that. It was foolish of her to even think he wouldn't see it.

She cleared her throat quietly before they entered the clubhouse and shook her head, "I wouldn't say confused. I just don't know who Abel is, that's all."

"Abel's my son."

**A/N: Silly place to cut it off at, but I figured I'd start another chapter with her reaction. I hope you all liked it, though.**


	5. Chapter 5

Pandora's feet skipped a step when he said that Abel was his son. His son? As in... his child? It wasn't the fact that him having a child made her skip a step, it meant that there was another woman in his life. Unknown what their status was with each other, but another woman none the less. For a moment she was worried that if she cooked him dinner tonight she'd be there, questioning who she was and giving Pandora those baby mama drama eyes. Hell, Pandora wasn't even sure if she liked kids. She was an only child, meaning that there were no kids for her to grow up around. There was a little child from her cousin, but when she was fifteen and accidentally shut the door on his fingers, the girl stayed away. It wasn't as if she did it on purpose. Hell, she didn't even know he was behind her. Still, she managed to stay away from small, little kids.

Clearing her throat quietly she gave a curt nod of her head, tucking her arms under each other over her chest. "Your son huh? That's... cute. How old is he?" Maybe she could get lucky and he'd be older, much older. As in, walking talking older.

"Four months. He's a really good baby, doesn't cry too much. Has a great smile and the most adorable laugh you'd ever heard in your life." Jax smiled, something soft that made Pandora study him for a moment.

There was a light in his eyes that hadn't been there before, but the moment he began to talk about Abel, they lit up the Fourth of July. Things like that were impossible to miss and just from how little he said about him, it was clear that the little baby was deeply loved by his father. A connection between parent and child was amazing and Jax gave off that vibe of doing anything and everything he could so his son was happy. It was nice.

She shouldn't help it, she smiled back. "I never grew up around babies, except one and I made sure to stay as far away from him as I could."

"I bet you're good with kids, though. Like it comes naturally to you."

"I'm not too sure I believe that." She chuckled, shaking her head slightly at the thought. Her, good with kids? She wasn't so sure of it.

Jax held the door open for her with his elbow when the two reached the doors of the clubhouse, in which she carefully slipped through without knocking into him in fear that he'd make the pie fall. Her mind was still reeling about the news he had a son. The image wasn't one that was uncommon, but she was curious as to why Stacy didn't mention it when the two were speaking about Jax.

The clubhouse wasn't filled with people like she half expected it to be, but instead held a handful of men inside it's walls. Hazel eyes spotted Stacy right off the bat, comfortably sitting in Raphael's lap sideways as he ate. Pandora moved waved and followed Jax to the bar where he placed the pie down, only turning her attention back to the group of men when she heard a cat whistle.

A man with curly dark hair grinned at her, tilting his head sideway as he inspected her. "Who's your friend, Jax?" He questioned, taking a sip of his beer.

Jax looked up from the pie and smirked, leaning against the bar. "This is-"

"Panda bear. Well, well, well. You finally decided to come and see us. I'm shocked we didn't get a visit the first day." Raphael spoke, turning his head to grin at the woman.

She rolled her eyes, moving over to where he was and ruffled his hair, bending down a bit to kiss the top of his head. "Come on, Fish Lips. I had a long way to drive and was tired." Wrapping her arms around his neck, the woman gave him a tight squeeze. "Can you ever forgive me?"

The man paused for a moment and then nodded. "I guess so. You'll have to make up for it, though."

"I'm not going to give you a lapdance, that's Stacy's job."

"And damn proud of it." Stacy nodded, planting a kiss to Raphael's lips that made Pandora roll her eyes, removing her arms from around the man.

"Images that just aren't needed have entered my mind." She said, removing her sunglasses to place in her bag.

The man who questioned who she was leaned back in his seat, running a hand over his facial hair. "That's okay, I can always help replace those with good ones."

"Roll it back up, Tig and tuck it away." Stacy groaned, throwing a balled up napkin at his face.

Tig appeared to be shocked by her statement and raised his hands, "Hey, I'm just trying to do my civil duty and help the girl out."

Stacy snorted and shook her head. "Do you really think she'd go to you? Can you even get it up anymore without Viagra?" Everyone that was present in the room laughed, including Pandora.

"Wanna find out?"

"Whoa man, whoa. My Old Lady, not yours." Raphael pointed his fork at Tig, while wrapping his free arm tighter around Stacy, who gladly nuzzled herself closer.

"Hey man, she's the one who mentioned my junk not working properly. I was just simply putting the invitation out there for her to give it a test ride."

"Yeah, I know what you were doin'. But she has me and I work perfectly fine."

Pandora didn't know if she should laugh or be worried. If this was what it was going to be like when hanging around the two, she was sure to cut their time together drastically. She looked to Jax who seemed to be enjoying the entire spectacle , while picking at the cherry pie with his fingers.

"Do you need a fork? I'm sure Gemma didn't raise you to eat with your fingers." Pandora said, slipping onto one of the bar stools.

Jax grinned, his lips curling up in what the woman assumed was the beginning of something smart coming out of his mouth. "Darlin', I'm good with my fingers. They've seen enough cherries to know what they're doing."

Stacy made a coughing sound, apparently choking on her drink. Once she was clear of the small fit, she started to laugh, which caused Pandora to shake her head. It had been a while since she was around bikers and their bluntness. It was comforting in a way, but still one of those things that made a person roll their eyes at the comments that were made.

"I'm starting to wonder if you guys get laid or not." Pandora chuckled, resting her elbow against the top of the bar to lean her temple against. There was no doubt in her mind that the guys didn't get laid. But who didn't enjoy picking and teasing on people? Even if it was just a little bit.

A man with a mohawk and tattoos on his head laughed quietly, leaning back on the back two legs of his seat. "Don't worry, there's always plenty of crow eaters to go around."

She looked from person to person, in hopes that someone could lend a helping hand as to what it was a crow eater was. It wasn't a term that she had heard before, at least, that she could remember. Apparently the look of being lost made Jax chuckle and lean towards her somewhat.

"SAMCRO. Crow eater."

For a minute she looked at him sill confused, but then it clicked and Pandora pushed against his shoulder lightly. "Oh, that's cute. Real cute."

Everyone laughed, including Stacy who shook her head. "Get use to it because this isn't even them being guys and showing off. They are like this all the time."

"How exciting. I can't wait to hang out more."

"The sarcasm from that statement is just rolling off in waves." Said Jax, which caused her to turn her head to glance at him, a small smirk tugging at the corners of her lips.

She was being sarcastic, extremely so, but that was just who she was. If the guys were going to hang around her, they'd have to eventually come to terms with that. Pandora wasn't a hard person to be around, but there would always be some who would disagree with that. She didn't take shit, wouldn't ever do it again. Maybe that made her a bit cold, slightly uncaring of others and their feelings. But never again would she be a victim of anything.

Jax's voice knocked her from her from her thoughts and she turned her attention to him. "What? Sorry, I was off in my own world."

"I said I didn't notice you had so much ink."

"Oh," she chuckled, looking down at her chest nodding, "yeah, I have plenty. I promised myself that I'd take a break for awhile, see if the addiction lessens. Once you get one, it's hard not to get more."

He nodded, "I understand that. I have a few." He paused, taking a swig of the beer that was placed in front of him by Kip, who smiled at Pandora and then left to go back outside. "It's rare for a woman to have an actual cut with a members patch on it. Did you get it just because your dads president of his MC?"

That irked her a bit, and her anger bubbled slightly. Her eyes narrowed a bit and she shook her head. The question was one that had been asked before, so why it bothered her was beyond the woman. But it did. Maybe because she was in a room filled by men, who worked for their patches just like she worked for hers. For Pandora to be accepted, she felt she had to do the work that the others did. If not, most in the MC would give her looks, treat her like she wasn't apart of them. There was a time when even she was a Prospect, and she made it clear to everyone that she didn't want to be treated differently, that she planned to earn her patch just as they had.

"No, I earned it. Did you get yours just because of Clay?"

Jax glanced at her for a moment, looking her over. It surprised him a bit, Pandora could tell, that she didn't take the easy route, but instead went through it like a true patch holder. "No." The answer was simple, to the point.

Nodding she looked away from him, trying to focus her attention elsewhere. She knew that Jax worked for his and wondered why she was even going to question him on it. Perhaps to show him that she was no different. Her eyes fell to the clock on the wall, noticing the time and stood, collecting her purse from the bar and slid her sunglasses back over her eyes. "I better get going if I'm going to do the cooking tonight. It takes about an hour to fry chicken anyways."

Raphael turned towards Pandora and Jax, holding Stacy in his arms. "Wait. Fried chicken? Where? Are we invited?"

She chuckled and crossed her arms over her stomach. "No, you're not invited and where it's being cooked at is none of your business."

"Oh... I'll find out. The smell will call me to it."

"Then I better light plenty of candles." She shot back, grinning lightly.

He placed a hand over his heart, looking like she had wounded him. "That hurts, Panda Bear."

"Panda Bear?" Jax asked, moving to stand beside Pandora with a raised eyebrow and smirk.

"Don't even ask." Pandora said, shaking her head.

"Watch out. We call her Panda Bear because she's cute and cuddly, but in the next instant she's vicious."

"And we all call you Fish Lips because you have extremely large lips."

Raphael frowned lightly, sucking in his lips which made Pandora and Stacy laugh. Really, it had been an accident how the man got the name. Raphael and Pandora were dating at the time and it was a girls night, which meant plenty of drinking and having fun. The woman managed to get drunk, far too drunk for her liking and called him up. When he answered the phone, the first thing out of her mouth was 'Hello, Fish Lips.' From then on out, no one ever let him live it down.

"Let me give you a ride." Jax offered, holding up a finger only to disappear in the next moment. He didn't even give her time to object.

Glancing over at Stacy, she noticed the woman looking rather smug and shook her head.

Jax reemerged moments later, cut placed on his back and sunglasses over his eyes. "Ready?" He questioned, receiving a nod from Pandora to confirm.

It had been ages since she actually rode bitch on a bike. She had always preferred to drive herself, but in the case there was no bike or even a car for that matter for her drive herself. Pandora waved to everyone as she followed behind Jax, noting the bike he went to. It wasn't one of the ones that she assumed was his when her eyes landed on the machines the first time. But it was a nice bike none the less.

She accepted the helmet that he offered and slid on behind him, taking off her brown hat to shove into her bag as she put the helmet on. "I haven't been on the back of a bike in awhile, so I'm sorry if I squeeze a little too tight."

He glanced over his shoulder at her, his trademark smirk in place. "Don't worry about it. I'm pretty sure I won't mind."

Pandora couldn't help it, she chuckled. Part of her wondered if he was actually trying to flirt with her, or if that's just who he was, part of his personality. She didn't have much time to continue to think on it before the bike was started and they puled out. Her arms automatically tightened around his waist, pressing her body against his back.

There was nothing like being on the back of a motorcycle. Nothing was there to constrict the wind as it whipped across your face. It was freeing, extremely so. One could feel actually feel the bike come to life under their body, feeling the pit of their stomach tighten when the speed was accelerated. There had once been a time when the woman was actually scared to get on one, afraid that the bike would tip over with her and whoever else was on it. The fear slowly slipped away though as she got older and became more accustomed to them. Now it was more of a fond memory of the times she had with her mother and father.

They were at Jax's house before she knew it and the two made it inside. Pandora looked around, realizing that he took better care of his place than a normal bachelor dd, most likely because he had a son to take care of and babies had a tendency to find things they weren't suppose to.

"I'm pretty sure I have everything you need to cook with, but you may want to take a quick look around in the kitchen to make sure." Jax took off the black hat he was wearing and ran his fingers through his hair.

She gave a curt nod of her head and pursed her lips, taking a brief look around. "And... that would be where?" It wasn't her house and she didn't exactly want to go exploring without Jax there.

"Oh, right." He chuckled, and carefully placed a hand against her lower back to lead her into the kitchen.

But before he could do that, the woman jumped and quickly moved away from him. It was a reflex that she did when anyone touched her back suddenly or got too close to her. It was being terrified, scarred for life. She could tell by the look on Jax's face he was confused as to what he had done to make her act like she had. Pandora took off her hat and sighed, following his previous motions and ran her hand through her hair.

"Sorry..." She trailed off, looking everywhere but at Jax.

He shook his head and put his hands in his pockets, motioning with his head towards to the kitchen, "It's trough here." He took the lead, maneuvering around her as he made sure not to touch her. Her reaction was weird and he put away a mental note ask her about it later.

Pandora cursed under her breath, crossing her arms over her chest and followed him. It wasn't the fact that she had reacted so strange, but that her ex still had control over her. It was control she tried her hardest to get back.

"If you want to take a quick look around and check out the stuff, I can run to the store and get what you need, if you need anything."

"Alright." She paused, setting her bag on top of the counter and began to go through his cabinets, pulling out the ingredients she'd need. "Where's your son?" The question gave her something else to focus on rather than the question she knew was looming on his mind. Questions lead to stories. Stories lead to questions. It really was a double-edged sword.

"Gemma wanted to see him before she went out. She'll bring him by tonight before going out." He leaned against the counter and watched her for a moment, crossing his ankles across the other.

She gave a slight nod of her head and took a look at everything she pulled out, "Well, looks like you have pretty much everything."

"You're lucky. I was going to BBQ tonight and got some chicken out." He chuckled, reaching for the ashtray that appeared to hold a mixture of cigarette butts and joints. Jax grabbed at one of the longer, fatter joints and lit it up, taking a large drag and held it in, holding the wrapped drug out to Pandora. "You smoke?"

"Between you and Stacy, it seems like you're trying to get me high and keep me there." Pandora chuckled and accepted the offering, following his previous actions.

Jax chuckled, letting out the smoke he had been holding captive in his lungs. "I figured it's always easier to talk when people are high. Serious conversations are still serious, but they don't hold such heavy weight."

She paused then and glanced at him, twirling the joint between her fingers. She was sure she knew what it was going to lead to, though she hoped it would take a different route. Taking another drag she passed it off to him, pulling out her cigarettes. "And what type of serious conversation are you looking to have, Jax?"

"I wanna know why you jumped when I touched you."

Straight to the point, she noted. There was no point in beating around the bush, at least that's how it appeared with Jax. "That's a long, sad story and tonight is suppose to be fun, nice." Pandora shook her head, "And I'm not trying to ruin that."

"If it doesn't happen tonight, then I'll just have to start asking my questions elsewhere." He passed the joint back to her as he let out the smoke.

Her eyes narrowed into slits as her anger began to rise. The nerve he had. "Do you always question the new girls in town about their actions?"

He shook his head, "Not normally. Only when they act like you did. Means there's a story behind it and I've been around enough women to know that when you jump and flinch away when a man touches you, you've had a man not touch you in the right way."

Her mind went to Gemma, silently questioning if she had been abused before. But she didn't seem like the type of women to just let it go on, and Jax didn't seem like the type of man to allow actions such as that to go unpunished.

"You really wanna know?"

Jax gave a single nod of his head, watching as Pandora took a long, slow drag of the joint and handed it back to him. He wanted to know what she had been through. Knowing her family and that her mother recently passed made him want to look out for her in a way and if someone had hurt her, he wanted to prevent it from happening again.

She took a deep breath in, feeling the effects of the joint starting to seep into her brain. California weed was different than the stuff in Louisiana. Not that it was any better, but it didn't take much to make you start feeling loosing, good. Plucking the joint from between his lips, Pandora took another drag in and moved to the table, clutching her cigarettes and lighter in her hand as she sat down. Jax followed, taking the seat beside her.

There was silence between the two as they passed the illegal substance back and forth. He didn't rush her, knowing that whatever she was about to say couldn't be forced out of her. It was like reliving moment again in her mind.

"Alex and I met about a month after I moved back to Louisiana. He didn't have anything to do with motorcycles, which was fine. It was rare for me to be interested in a guy that didn't, but I decided to see where it would go. At the time I was working at a nightclub in New Orleans as a dancer. Not a stripper. There was no taking of the clothes off." She paused, lighting up a much needed cigarette. "I'm not saying we dressed in the most modest attire, but it was a nightclub. To get a guy who's interested in you for you and not your body when you work in a job like that, as well as one who doesn't get jealous is almost a never situation. But Alex didn't seem to care. We met at the club, he knew what I did for a living and seemed to be okay with it."

"We were just friends at first and I dated other guys, he dated other girls. I had guys who got so jealous of the fact that I was even talking to a guy, that they would cause a huge scene. I made it perfectly crystal clear before ever dating anyone that I liked my job, and had no intentions to quit and that I wasn't doing anything that would make them question if I was cheating or not. If I did leave, it would be for the right guy under the right circumstances. Turns out it was mainly guys who were cheating on me, so those situations weren't exactly the ones that would make me want to quit."

Pandora took a drag of her cigarette, taking a glance at Jax who nodded for her to continue, carefully snubbing out the joint on the ashtray that was placed on the table.

"About four years ago Alex talked me into giving it a shot between us. I mean, I was attracted to him and he was a great guy. He had problems like I did in relationships, so I... I didn't see a problem. In the beginning things were great, like, really great. He was sweet, funny, took me out. We did our separate things, but he was always really for us doing things together. Not unhealthy together, but ya know... couple things."

"So basically quality time together?" It was the first time Jax spoke since she started and she gave a nod of her head.

"Yeah. He went out with his friends and I went out with mine and about once a week, we would go out together. Just him and I." She flicked her ashes in the tray and took another drag. "About a year in we moved into a place together and things began to... start getting really weird. My motorcycle went missing, which broke my heart. Eventually he told me that he sold it because he didn't like it or approved of it. I'm sure you can imagine how upset I was about that."

He shook his head, scooting down a bit in his seat to get comfortable. "And you still stayed with him?"

"I did, because I loved him and because he was slowly starting to fuck with my head. I never told my parents about it, since I knew how they would act. But I could always just buy another bike."

"He pretty much stole from you and then lied about it to your face. That's not right or the start to a good relationship. Also, sure he never gave you the money for it."

She exhaled the smoke and gave a small nod, "He did and he didn't give me any money for it. But like I said, he was slowly starting to brainwash me and think that he was the best I could get. For awhile I actually believed it. Then things went from bad to worse. It was little things, nothing big at first. He'd grab me, or say mean things to me. Alex really made me believe that no one else would love me like he di-"

"That's not love, Pandora. That's possession, ownership. You were like an item to him." Jax cut in, bending forward to rest his elbows against the table. She could tell that he was starting to get angry by the way his voice lowered, holding a bite to it.

"I know that... now. But then, when you're in a situation like that, your mind doesn't. Now, are you done interrupting me?"

He rubbed his forehead and nodded for her continue.

"Thank you. The grabbing wasn't enough for him. He'd push me or throw me against the wall. That... well, that wasn't anything that really hurt me. Our sex life was a little on the taboo side." Pandora chuckled softly, taking a drag of her cigarette. "But, that's not really too important. I'm not saying it's right by any means outside of the bedroom and even sometimes it's not right in it. It was still wrong. My friends had suspicions about what was going on, but I never said anything to them about it at the time. It would only cause problems. But things took a huge turn after that." She took a quick look around and cleared her throat. "Beer?"

Jax chuckled and stood from the table, moving towards the fridge and came back with two beers.

"Thanks." Pandora twisted the cap and tossed it on the table, taking a long swig. "He got mad at me one night because he thought I was 'flirting' with a guy at the club. I got home that night and he was so angry. He just... he punched me in the stomach like he didn't care. It was after that incident that I knew I had to do something and to get away before the situation got any worse. So, I started to slowly move things out one by one. A couple of shirts, extra things that I didn't use on a daily basis, pants, things like that. I figured if it was something like that then he wouldn't notice right off the bat. By this time I told my friend what was going on and she agreed to help me. My entire plan was to get everything and then make my way back here, but that didn't happen like I wanted it to."

Downing the rest of the beer she moved the empty bottle against the top of the table, listening to the quiet scrapping sound it made. The cigarette that was in her hand was forgotten through her previous tellings, leaving nothing but the gray line of ashes where the nicotine burned away. She tossed it carefully into the ashtray, watching as the ashes splattered and fell apart. It was always the next part that made telling the entire story the hardest. Working up to it was nothing, but the ending... the ending made it a horror story.

"He apparently knew what I was doing and let me do it, like a game. He wanted to see how far I was going to get before I made the final move. I was suppose to go to work on the last night that I was going to be staying with him, packed up everything else in the car. He was suppose to be at work, but he called in sick so he'd get to be home. I got ready to leave, like I always did and had a couple of boxes to take down to the car. Alex surprised me when I was going back for the second box and he hit me so hard in my mouth I thought he broke my jaw."

Jax reached a hand up slowly and brushed his fingers against the side of her jaw. The sudden touch made her jump and turn her head away, but not before she had the chance to feel his calloused fingers against the softness of her face.

"From there he got me on the bed and tied my hands up, tore up my shirt to get it off, which made no sense to me. I figured he would take it off before, but I guess the main objective was to get me secured down. His voice woke me up, and he was telling me that if he couldn't have me, no one would and that he would ruin me forever and make it so no other man wanted me."

"Doesn't look like he's done a good job." Jax gave her a playful grin, something that she was sure he was doing in hopes of making her feel better.

"No, he's done a really good job of it." Pandora paused, canting her head to the side slightly. Her dainty fingers curled around the ashtray and pulled it towards her, fishing around for another good sized joint that could be shared. Not finding any she pushed it back between the two on the table.

"When I said we liked things on the taboo side, I meant it. As in, BDSM things, if you know what that is. If not, Google will become your friend because the story isn't about that and I'm not going to explain it. There were things I had no interest in trying, nothing about it seemed like a good idea to me and we never crossed those lines. But that night he did. As... corny as it sounds, did you ever see _Underworld, _the first one, the guy who had those whips with metal shards in it?"

Jax paused for a moment, scanning his mind for the person that she was talking about before giving a nod in confirmation.

"Alex made one of those out of glass. A whip, with glass pieces on it. How he decided to come up with that is beyond me. I guess he was really screwed up and I never knew it. He showed it to me and said that he was going to make me damaged goods and that anyone who saw me naked would be disgusted at the sight. The next thing I know he's hitting me in the back with it. I never felt anything like that before, ever. I could feel pieces of my skin pop open and it felt like he was skinning me alive with every lash. I passed out after awhile and prayed that someone would hear me screaming, perhaps call the police or someone."

She took a deep breath and rested her elbow against the table, her temple falling to her fingers to hold it up. Pandora couldn't look at Jax, not if she wanted to keep telling the story. Part of her was afraid at the look on his face, perhaps etched with disgust and horror like most people seemed to have when she told them. But whatever he looked like, she couldn't meet his eyes. She did see his hands and watched as they clenched in fists so tight his knuckles began to take on a white color.

"I woke up later alone, and could barely even move. It hurt so bad just to sit up. I wasn't tied up anymore and my head was... light. The room was spinning. Blood was everywhere and I managed to get up and grab my purse, intent on calling my dad. I did, but Alex was there and he knocked me out again. From what everyone told me, my friends were worried, since they knew what I was doing and how crazy Alex had been acting and came to check on me. He wouldn't let them in, but Cade, one of the bouncers from the club was with them and... well, Cade normally gets what he wants. They found me and called my dad. Cade beat the shit out of Alex. Next day dad was there with some guys from the MC. There was no calling of the cops or anything like that and if others who weren't in the club hadn't know what was going on... dad would have killed him."

There had never been a time in her life when her father had been so angry, so ready to take someones life. But this was different. Pandora was on the brink of death, close to the door with a foot wedging it open. It was nice to have friends in high places, especially when they worked at hospitals. Marcus made sure there would never be any record of the event, in case something did ever happen to Alex. There would never be any trace back to them.

"Everyone wanted me to just come right back after, but I couldn't. My pride wouldn't let me. If I did, Alex got what he wanted and I swore to myself that I wouldn't let it happen. We never crossed paths again after that, but he's still out there and every time I look at my back, I'm reminded about what happened. He left me with some pretty nasty scars as a memory." She raised a hand absently and brushed her fingers over the back of her neck, feeling the rough, scarred skin below the pads of her fingers. "They'll never go away the doctor said and any tattoo I get on my back is just going to be ruined."

There was a silence between the two as she finished and she took the chance of glancing at Jax. He sat there, face emotionless with his fists still clenched tightly, like he was ready to pound in the table.

Some things could be looked over, but to Jax hitting a woman was not one of those things and what Pandora went through was unacceptable. He shook his head, finally letting his hands relax as he slumped lower in his seat. "I would have killed the bastard."

Pandora nodded her head slightly, crossing her arms over her chest, "Yeah, a lot of people wanted to, making sure that he would never do something like that again."

"He needs to be six feet under."

Plenty of times the thought went through her head, messing him up like he did her. But in her mind that was only sinking to his level and honestly, the woman wasn't sure if she could live with something like that on her conscious.

Clearing her throat she stood from the table, making her way back over to the counter where the ingredients where to fix the dinner she had promised Jax. He was still at the table, just sitting there frozen as if he didn't know what to do. Pandora excepted that. He had every right to be stunned. There were plenty of demented, messed up people in the world and she just happened to be unlucky enough to find one.

Jax cleared his throat about thirty minutes later, the first sound he had made since she explained everything to him. "I don't really know what to say."

She shook her head, flipping over the cooking chicken in the pan. "You don't have to say anything, Jax. You wanted to know, so I told you. But I'd really appreciate it if you kept what happened quiet. Not everyone knows about it."

He nodded his head and the sound of Gemma entering caused her to turn her head to look at her, smiling when she sat the baby carrier on the table. The older woman looked between the two, arching a brow with a little smile on her face.

"And what's going on here?" She questioned, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I was kinda mean to Jax the other day and to make up for it I agreed to make him dinner."

"I see." Was all Gemma said, bending over to give Abel -at least who she assumed was Abel- a kiss, moving to do the same thing to Jax. "You two kids have fun."

Jax chuckled and shook his head, "Yeah, you too mom."

And with that Gemma left after giving Pandora a wave. Jax took out his son, smiling brightly at him as he cradled the small child in his arms, brushing a finger over his nose. The scene caused her to smile as she watched them, listening to Jax talk to him. It was cute, she had to admit.

"Think you could watch him for me real quick while I hop in the shower? I'm still pretty dirty from work."

Her lips pursed at the question, turning around to face the two of them. "Yeah, but... I'm not too good with kids."

He stood and put Abel in his playpen, pulling off his cut and shirt, shrugging his shoulders. Pandora noted the tattoo that was over his heart of his son's name and smiled lightly. He _was_ one of those good fathers.

"I shouldn't be no more than ten minutes." Jax said as he began to walk to the bathroom, leaving her alone with the baby.

She prayed he wouldn't start crying. If he did, she'd have to pick him up and risk the chance that something bad would happen. She had horrible luck when it came to babies. After about five minutes, thing seemed to be going well, but then... the unthinkable happened. Abel began to cry. Cleaning off her hands she bent over his playpen, picking up a stuffed animal and held it out to him, making kissing sounds as if the bunny was really kissing the child. He stopped crying and looked at the bunny, then nuzzled his cheek against it. It caused her heart to melt a little bit in the process.

"I think Mr. Bunny likes kisses, don't you think, Abel?" She questioned, knowing that he couldn't answer her back.

Abel put his hands on the side of the bunnies head and brought it towards his mouth, putting the nose inside it and then pulled it away, like he was trying to kiss the bunny. Another heart melting experience. This kid was going to be trouble, Pandora could see it. She laughed and nodded, "Yeah, I think he does. Do you like kisses?" Once more she pressed the bunny against Abel's cheeks and neck, making kissing sounds. The baby started to laugh, which in turn caused her to laugh.

The sudden feel of someone touching her lower back, the bare skin that was shown as she was bent over the playpen with Abel forced her to stand up quickly and drop the bunny, coming face to face with Jax.

His hair was dripping wet and she could feel his breath fanning across her face. The man was shirtless once more, but held a white one in his other hand. It was hard to tear her eyes away from his, and she managed to do it, barely.

"Don't do that." Her voice was soft, quiet, barely audible. Taking a step back she cleared her throat, crossing her arms over her stomach and moved past him, returning to the kitchen once more.

"Why not?" He followed behind her after a moment, most likely to make sure Abel was alright.

She ran a hand through her hair, shaking her head. "It makes me uncomfortable."

"So you're going to let him win?"

Pausing after she flipped the chicken once more, she shook her head. "You don't understand."

He wrapped his hand gently around her arm, turning her to face him. "Help me to understand."

"I can't."

"Why?"

"Because you wouldn't understand!" Her voice raised slightly and she tore her arm away from his grasp, turning down the heat under the chicken and took it out, placing it on a plate.

Really, it was because she didn't know what to tell him. Alex had won, he made sure of that with the first lash he gave her. Just like he was getting to her, Jax was too. The small touches he did, the way he looked at her when he came to check on Abel, how he touched her back where she was scarred. It was almost too close to home.

"I happen to think I can understand a lot of things. I may be a biker and a mechanic, but I'm not stupid."

She had to keep herself busy and Pandora began to mash the potatoes that had boiled. "I never said you were stupid."

He reached into the fridge and pulled out a beer, popping off the top and took a swig. "You're acting like it."

"I'm not acting like anything. Dinner will be ready soon." Subject changing was always a nice thing, if it worked.

"It smells good." Jax peered over her shoulder, looking at the potatoes.

He was close again and the woman could feel her hair move slightly with every exhale he gave. It was comforting in a way, but it was something she didn't want. With the sudden death of her mother, plus going back down memory lane, everything was just... too much for her.

"Thanks."

Pandora eased out from in front of him and went back to the pan, making the gravy for the potatoes. She wanted to leave, to go back to her dads house and press herself in a corner and forget things. There came a time in those two years after Alex that she managed to close herself off to any real emotion. It was nice in a way, to not feel anything. Some emotions could be faked, quite easily, if a person knew how. But with Jax and his sudden care for what happened to her, plus his gentle demeanor towards Pandora, she didn't know how to act or what to do. Her friends showed the same caring, but they were friends, people she had grown to care for herself. Jax was... uncharted territory to her.

Her plan was to get through the dinner and go back home, keeping the space between them to a minimal. It would be easier that way.

Jax went back to the playpen, picking up Abel and went to the seat he had previously occupied in at the table, watching Pandora as she proceeded to put everything on a plates. The woman had a hard life, experienced things that no one should ever have to experience. He wanted to make it better, to give her new memories that were pleasant and help erase all the bad. It wasn't going to be easy, he could tell, but he was up for the challenge.

Once everything was on the table, the two ate in almost silence, making small conversation here and there. Nothing special, just dinner talk. Abel happily sat in his high chair, gobbling up every bite of baby food that Jax put in front of his mouth. The man occasionally made those adorable airplane sounds, which made the baby laugh and clap his hands together. It was a sweet sight.

After dinner, Pandora and Jax cleaned up the kitchen while Abel once more played in his pen.

"I'll take you home in a minute."

"Don't worry about it. I'll just call my dad to come and get me." She said, drying her hands on a dishtowel that was close by.

"It's fine, no trouble at all." Jax said, giving a half shrug of his shoulder.

"I really don't want you to get Abel out. It's getting late anyways and he's probably tired." Turning to face him, she pressed her hip against the counter, resting her hands behind her.

He chuckled, shaking his head. "If he's tired, he'll go to sleep in the car. He likes it anyways, like rocking."

She wanted to groan, knowing that there was no way she would be able to get out of this. With everything she said, Jax had a retort that made sense. Her hands gripped the counter lightly and she nodded her head, watching as he put Abel in the baby carrier. Collecting her things she followed behind him out the door, making sure it was locked.

The drive back to Lodi was quiet, much like dinner time had been. She had questions, but didn't feel like she could ask him. The funeral for Birdie was in a couple of days and she was sure he would be there. Really, it was something she wasn't looking forward to doing. Not only because it would be the last time she saw her mother, but because of all the people. They would hover over her, hug her, ask if she was okay. While that's what most people do in situations like that, it wasn't something Pandora was fond on. Of course Pandora knew it was just people, friends making sure that the woman was okay, but really she would just want time alone. She wasn't sure if she would be able to sneak away after the service, but damn she would try.

The SUV arrived in Lodi and they pulled up to her fathers house, nothing that his bike wasn't there, most likely because there was club business to attend to.

Pandora turned to Jax and gave him a somewhat smile and opened her door, "Well, it was fun."

"Thanks a lot for dinner, it was really good." He smiled back, but his was a warm smile, one that made the pit of her stomach tighten.

"No problem. I'll see ya." She hopped out of the car and climbed up the porch steps, fiddling in her purse for the keys. The headlights that were shinning against the house didn't waver, like they were pulling away, but instead stayed put. She glanced over her shoulder to see Jax watching her, most likely waiting till she was in the house before driving off and when she found her keys and unlocked the door, Pandora gave him a wave before slipping into the house.

The lights began to dim, signaling that he was pulling away and she pressed her head against the door, clenching her eyes tightly.

"Don't do it, Pandora. He pities you, like every other man in your lie." She spoke to herself and shook her head. Her body felt tired, weak and as she made it to her bedroom she collapsed of her bed, falling into a nightmare filled sleep, not even bothering to change out of her clothes.

**A/N: Holy crap! What a long chapter! Sorry it's taken me so long to update, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I HAVEN'T forgotten about the story and I don't plan to stop until it's done, so don't worry. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did writing it. **


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